THE GORGES — FALL CREEK RAVINE. 75 



winds back and forth on the naked face of the vertical 

 cliff, by steep ascents and dangerous looking stone stair- 

 ways to the summit of the "Palisades." During the 

 hewing out of these steps, one of the workmen acei- 

 dently fell, yet without injury, nearly a hundred and fifty 

 feet, bounding from crag to crag to the depths below. 

 This event gained for the place the name of "Johnson's 

 Tumble." The path leads along the edge of this preci- 

 pice, known as the "Palisades" from the resemblance 

 to the cliffs of that name on the Hudson. The dark 

 water a hundred and twenty feet beneath, flows placidly 

 along in the shadows of the unscalable cliffs. The per- 

 pendicular rock walls on both sides are seamed by verti- 

 cal fissures which give the appearance of some immense 

 ruined castle. From the north wall jut out two crags 

 nearly split off, apparently ready to topple and fall 

 crashing below. On one of these a rusty pine stands 

 like a sentinel, grasping the rocks with its talon-like 

 roots as in terrified desperation. Beneath, fifty yards 

 from the edge of the fall a dam turns the water into the 

 black mouth of the tunnel, yawning at the foot of the 

 columnar rocks opposite. This passage through the 

 rock conveys the water power to the mills. Formerly 

 and for many years the water was carried to the factories 

 by a sluice way partly hewn into the wall. Traces of 

 this conduit may still be seen. In 1830, Kzra Cornell, 

 then in the employ of J. S. Peebe, owner of the mill at 

 the foot of the ravine, undertook to excavate the pre> 

 ent tunnel. With the aid of five men he accomplished 

 the task in about six months. From this point, may 



